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Events on Wednesday 26 February 2025 2
1930 – 2025Gene Hackman -- the ordinary man in extraordinary rolesEugene Allen Hackman (30 January 1930 - c. 18 February 2025) was an American actor widely regarded as one of the greatest of his generation and a defining figure of the New Hollywood movement. Over a career spanning four decades and more than 100 films, he won two Academy Awards -- Best Actor for The French Connection (1971) and Best Supporting Actor for Unforgiven (1992) -- and received five Oscar nominations in total. He played detectives, villains, coaches, politicians and fathers with a naturalistic intensity that made him one of the most respected and versatile performers in American cinema. He retired from acting in 2004 and lived quietly in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he was found dead alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa at their home in February 2025, aged 95.
2025Gene Hackman dies in Santa FeOn 26 February 2025, sheriff''s deputies were dispatched to the Hackman residence on Old Sunset Trail in Santa Fe. Inside they found Hackman, 95, his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, and their dog, all dead. Hackman''s cause of death was later determined to be hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer''s disease as a contributing factor; he had likely died around 18 February. Arakawa''s death was attributed to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare rodent-borne illness, approximately a week before her husband''s passing. No foul play was suspected.